Hi all I was given this and the Bismark for a Christmas pressie from my daughter and son I bought what i thought was the pe for this kit (which cost more than the kit and I now discover is still not the full pe for it, i will buy the rest but just have to wait a bit) so I was thinking I quite like the pics by Eduard and pontos (others are availiable) of the pe on the finished ship with no paint on it and was thinking maybe I would do that with just a slight difference being I would weather the pe but leave it unpainted. What do you all think, I quite like the pe showing I think it adds interest(i know it's not very accurate but let's face it I'm pretty rubbish with this modelling lark and I very seldom build as per the instructions anyway.So here is my start on this buildMade a start on the decking (Will be using pastels for the decking this is just the base coat.

...I was thinking I quite like the pics by Eduard and pontos of the pe on the finished ship with no paint on it and was thinking maybe I would do that with just a slight difference being I would weather the pe but leave it unpainted. What do you all think...

Hi Ken,

Your weathered but unpainted etch is one of the more unusual ideas I've come across in ship modeling - but why not? I myself range from classic AMS (Advanced Modeler's Syndrome) obsession over minute details and nuances of color to unpainted slap-it-together-in-one-sitting relaxation builds. It's all good, and if you get pleasure from the experience, then I say it is mission accomplished!

Well im a bit annoyed with eduard.I started putting the pe portholes on and got 10 done and thought hang on theres something wrong here ( they give you 50 pe portholes) counted down one side theres 63 (it does say optional parts) optional or not they should at least supply enough for the job. And now im thinking about it what about all the pprtholes on the super structure. When i built the warspite i had loads of parts left on tge sprue that wernt mentioned anywhere in tge instructions ive since discovered they were ment to be portholes they look a bit different to the ones eduard supply but maybe i will use them.I managed to get the portholes off without damaging the paintwork too much. As i say maybe i will try the warspite ones will have a count up and see if theres enough.

Thanks Russell there's a big difference between those 2Well it's been a long time since I put a ship on a stand (usually I have them in a dio of some sort) I think the last one I put on a stand was the La Royale de France.I'm not sure I like the supplied stand maybe I will put her in a dry dock.

Hi all well this will probably be my last update before we get back from our hols we will be packing tomorrow night.Got to say I'm really looking forward to a week in the sun doing nothing at all with a drink in my hand and my every whim catered for.I'm thinking of drilling out all the portholes (I say thinking as there are a lot of them)

Hi all the pe really does make a big difference, I'm still not great at it but even with my ham fisted efforts I still think it looks better (of course if I painted it it would help to hide my errors) I still like the improvements though.The first 2 pics are how the parts would be oob that is the completed part.And this is with the added peAnd here it is in placeThat part is only 10mm so is really small.